The Parenting Workshop

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Scarecrows, apples and fall fun!

As you've probably noticed, the scarecrow event was a success! We created 60 breakfast bags for Aid for Friends and made 13 fabulous, storybook scarecrows which now adorn our beautiful campus, including a fairy, a surfer, a minion and the man with the yellow hat. A parent happened to witness some very excited friends on a recent morning who exclaimed, "Why do we have a scarecrow in school?!?" Our 13th scarecrow is the perfect festive addition to our Lower School lobby. 

We had a wonderful turnout for our Solebury Orchards apple picking event. Twenty-one families (over 55 adults and children) joined us as we embarked on a wagon ride out to the orchard to pick four different types of apples. Everyone had a great time and the weather hung in there for us! 

Next week, we look forward to the Halloween Parade for kindergarten through fourth grade and the Fall Festival for students kindergarten and younger.  The weather is lovely, the trees are breathtaking and all of us in the Lower School community are embracing the beauty of fall.

 

Our Milkweed Study

"It's a plant."
"It's a weed."
"It's milkweed!"

Milkweed is more that just any old weed! First graders have learned the importance of milkweed while studying Monarch butterflies. We researched in books, articles and videos. Last week we went on a milkweed hunt and found two locations where milkweed is on our campus.

Here are some facts first graders shared about milkweed:

Milkweed can be different colors of green.

There are different kinds of milkweed.

The monarch caterpillars depend on it.

I learned that they have different features.

A spray can kill the milkweed, a weed spray.

Milkweed is called that because it has a milk inside, but, do not drink it because it has a toxin in it and it is only good for caterpillars but not for some of their predators.

If there is no milkweed the Monarchs would all die.

We were very excited and brought some back for our very hungry caterpillars!

Please come and see our Milkweed/Caterpillar display outside Susan and Janmarie’s first grade! Finally, while a few are still munching away, most of our caterpillars are in the J stage or chrysalis stage! We look forward to our first butterfly emerging! Stay tuned!

Beginning Number Bonds in First Grade

First graders have been practicing breaking numbers into parts using visual models called number bonds.  Understanding number bonds makes it easier for children to learn basic addition and subtraction facts and makes them more proficient in mental math calculations. We have been using concrete object groups to help students grasp the concept of number bonds and the bigger idea of part-part whole.

Using number bonds helps set the stage for the addition and subtraction work we will soon be starting.  Number bonds help the students understand that a number is made up of parts.  If you know the parts, you can put them together (add) to find the whole.  If you know the whole and one of the parts, you can take away the part you know (subtract) to find the other part.  Number bonds let children see the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction.  Understanding subtraction as the mirror image of addition helps students approach subtraction problems more comfortably and more generally develops their ability to work with numbers.

At home you can have your children show you what a number bond is.  You may want to help them explore number bonds in a hands on way, such as having your child collect some leaves from your backyard (approximately 10 big and 10 small leaves). You may substitute with shells (big and small) or beans (red and black) or any other small object.  Have your child to choose a number between 1 and 10, for example, 7.  Then, using that number of the object, have your child find different ways to group the object into two groups, for example, 6 and 1 or 5 and 2.  You can then have your child draw number bonds for the number they chose and name the parts and the whole.

Nuestro autoretratos / Our self-portraits

Creating a self-portrait is a community-building activity that helps children to get to know each other. In Spanish class, it is an effective resource to enhance oral and written communication in español.

To commence the Autoretrato project, the children were taught some of the Spanish terminology and concepts associated with portrait painting. Students learned in español some of the body parts with an emphasis on facial characteristics as well as colors and shapes. Many books were read, plenty of songs were sung, some activity sheets were completed and numerous games were played that helped the learners practice the Spanish vocabulary for these themes, orally and in writing.

To culminate the self-portrait project, we read Katie Kissinger’s book that provided positive exploration and celebration of skin color differences, All the Colors We Are – Todos los Colores de Nuestra Piel. Afterwards, mirrors and multicultural colored markers, crayons and pencils were provided. As the children observed themselves in the mirror to look at their facial features and small details, the students were encouraged to discuss qué color (what color) comes closest to their skin tone, qué color son tus ojos (what color are your eyes), qué color es tu pelo (what color is your hair) and qué forma tiene la cara y los ojos (what shape is the face and the eyes). 

Along with the self-portrait, a short autobiography of each child has been added. This layer of the project provided an additional opportunity for more learning in español. In the younger grades, the children were introduced to Lynn Reiser’s book, Margaret and Margarita. This is a cute story about two little girls that meet at the park, one speaks English and the other speaks Spanish. When the two children meet, they find a way to communicate. The story helped introduce students to phrases such as “what is your name” and “what do you like”. Afterwards, fun games were played where the children were encouraged to state, me llamo (my name is), me gusta (I like), mi color favorito (my favorite color), and un deceo (one wish). When the students were “interviewed” for their autobiografía, they were able to respond to the following questions:

¿Cómo te llamas? (How are you called?)

¿Cuál es tu color favorito? (Which is your favorite color?)

¿Qué te gusta? (What do you like?)

¿Un deceo? (One wish?)

The students in the 3^rd and 4^th grades were encouraged to write a short autobiography in English and Spanish. The computers were used as a resource to help with translation. In their autobiography, the children were asked to include at least five sentences that began with:

Me llamo… (I am called…)

Mi cumpleaños…. (My birthday…)

Soy… (I am...)

Tengo… (I have…)

Me gusta... (I like…)

This Friday, October 23, are the Parent-Guardian Conferences. I encourage you to stop by the Spanish classroom to observe these wonderful creations. You too will be marveled! 

What Does Math Look Like In Kindergarten?

Using books to introduce and
reinforce math concepts

Kindergarten math can certainly be seen during scheduled math lessons with our math specialist Jeanne and the kindergarten teachers. Our Math In Focus curriculum uses a concrete-pictorial-abstract model to teach math skills with an emphasis on problem solving. The children are listening to math stories, acting out concepts, and using workbooks to demonstrate their understanding. The children love their scheduled math time- be sure to ask your child to sing you the "Beaver Song" that Jeanne taught the class!

Of course, math is seen and incorporated throughout the course of the school day beyond the Math In Focus lessons. Math is everywhere in kindergarten! Below are just a few of the activities that support our budding kindergarten mathematicians:

• Calendar work reinforces building patterns and developing number sense, introduces the concept of place value, and introduces counting by 5's when counting the days of school with a 100 hundreds chart.

Tens frames and a one
hundreds chart

Counting the days of school and looking at
place value, number order and patterns during calendar work

• Math provides a myriad of opportunities to work with a partner to have fun and strengthen new math skills and the important social tasks of collaboration, compromise and problem solving. Games such as Dice Race Game and Shut the Box quickly become well-loved partner games.

                

                      Working with a partner to
                        play the Dice Race Game-
                          "Not that number again!"

 

Sharing final results of 
the Dice Race Game

Creating a bar graph to indicate
 favorite tastes during a 5 senses lesson

• Math is also found throughout the curriculum as we have looked at the five senses and created a bar graph and recorded on data sheets.
• Our emerging human body study and the foods that keep us healthy will undoubtedly support continued math exploration as we measure, weigh, bake and cook in the upcoming weeks!

Seining at the Shore!

So just what is seining anyway?  A seine net is a very large fishing net that has floats on one side and weights on the other.   The 4th grade students got to experience seining first hand on the shore trip. We arrived at Cape Henlopen State Park and then headed to the Seaside Nature Center for our seining program on a picture perfect day.  The students all had a turn taking the seine net out into the bay to capture all kinds of marine creatures.  The students held the net at the ends and then walked in a wide circle to capture as many plants and animals as possible.  Once the students headed back with the net, they all picked up the plants and animals and put them into buckets to study when we were done. We caught a lot, including horseshoe crabs, hermit crabs and jellyfish.  We caught an impressive list of fish, including the northern stargazer, mullets, silversides, mummichogs and pipefish.  Of course there were lots of crabs, including blue crabs and lady crabs.  We also caught some tasty seaweed, including sea lettuce and mermaid's hair.  The staff from the Nature Center told us that since a hurricane had just come through, it brought some things normally found in the tropics with it. It was a pretty exciting afternoon!  Back in the classroom, the students are choosing a sea creature to study in science class.